The Mockingjay and the Snake
by zombie hippie
Summary: Hunger Games/Metal Gear Solid crossover. Post-Guns of the Patriots, post-Catching Fire. The 75th Annual Hunger Games have ended, and Katniss Everdeen is wanted by the Capitol. Meanwhile, an ancient soldier from a time before Panem is revived in the Capitol, and escapes. Katniss and District 13 have no choice but to forge an alliance with the one known as Solid Snake.
1. Chapter 1

**The Mockingjay and the Snake**

Author's Note: I've become a fan of _The Hunger Games_ book series as of late. After reading certain parts of Mrs. Suzanne Collins brilliant work (I've read all three books, don't worry) I thought that this would make for an excellent crossover with one of my favorite video game series of all time, _Metal Gear Solid._ I have played all of them from _The Twin Snakes_ Gamecube remake to _Guns of the Patriots_, and even played the Playstation 2 ports of _Metal Gear _and _Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake_ that was included as bonus features on _Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence._ I noticed that Suzanne Collins and Hideo Kojima explore very similar themes in their great works of art, _The Hunger Games _and _Metal Gear Solid_, respectively. Now, I don't know how many _Hunger Games _fans are aware of the _Metal Gear_ franchise, or how many of you are gamers in general, but this is an excellent series that I cannot recommend enough. This does have spoilers for _Guns of the Patriots_, the fourth MGS title, so some of you may be turned off if you have never played a Metal Gear game before, but you can watch playthroughs on Youtube to get caught up with the story, from _Metal Gear_ to _Guns of the Patriots_. This is also a very violent story, hence the M-rating. Also, _Hunger Games _purists, I have read the books, and I know that I'm changing a lot of things, I'm not going to follow _Mockingjay_ that much at all (which is where this crossover will mainly take place) just remember, it is a fanfiction, it is set in an alternate universe. I'm already changing a lot by putting Solid Snake in _The Hunger Games _to begin with. THERE WILL BE A LOT OF CHANGES TO THE _MOCKINGJAY_ STORY, JUST GO WITH IT! Don't take it seriously, I'm not changing any canon, as this is fanfiction!

Disclaimer: _The Hunger Games _belongs to Suzanne Collins and Scholastic. _Metal Gear Solid_ belongs to Hideo Kojima and Konami. I own neither franchise, if I did, I would be filthy rich.

Prologue: What Went Wrong

It was the day of the wedding between Johnny Sasaki and Meryl Silverburgh. Celebration was aplenty. The Patriots, the secret entity that had controlled the United States of America since the Cold War, had finally been defeated, in the year 2014.

Hal Emmerich, aka Otacon, had been talking to Drebin, about his days as a war orphan, a gun launderer. The conversation was interrupted by a young girl's voice, the young voice of Sunny Gurlukovich.

"Hey, Uncle Hal, can I give him the Mark III?" little Sunny asked, pointing to a young boy native to the island that the wedding was taking place on. She was holding a small robotic device that rolled around, which would make some people mistake it for a toy. That is, if children's toys came equipped with the ability to trade guns and ammunition for money, use optic camouflage, and had a little cord that acted as a stun gun.

"Huh?" Otacon asked his "niece."

"He's kind of," Sunny began, searching for the right words, "...a new friend! He lives near here. We can't understand each other's language, but we're having fun! He's my very first outside friend!"

Otacon looked from Sunny, the little robotic life form she was holding, and the boy that she was with. He then smiled.

"Really? That's great." He began. "Sunny, it's okay if you want to live outside now. It's your life. There are other havens out there."

Sunny smiled and looked over at the sunset. "The sun looks so pretty." she said admiringly.

"Sunny." Otacon said, heartbroken with a mixture of sadness and joy that his "niece" was growing up.

"I like it outside!" Sunny said enthusiastically. She then paused, noticing that one normal member of their "family" had not attended the wedding. "Uncle Hal," she began cautiosly. "When is Snake coming back?"

Otacon turned away, trying hard not to cry. He had lost so much in his life. His father had committed suicide because of a relationship he had with his stepmother. His first love, the Shadow Moses FOXHOUND member known only as Sniper Wolf, died in a sniper duel with his best friend, Solid Snake. His little half-sister, Emma Emmerich, had been killed on the Big Shell by the Dead Cell vampire only known as Vamp. And his most recent love, the scientist and medical practitioner, Dr. Naomi Hunter, had killed herself by turning off the nanomachines that were keeping her terminal cancer at bay. Now, because of accelerated aging, he was going to lose his best friend, Solid Snake, at some point within the next year or so.

"Snake," Otacon began, talking to Sunny like Snake was her favorite dog that he had to have put down. "Is sick. So he went on a trip to help him get better." he finished his lie.

"We're not going with him?" Sunny asked.

"No." Otacon said with finality. "He needs to be alone."

"I wonder if I will ever see him again." Sunny thought aloud.

"Snake," Otacon began again, using the same tone of voice. "Had a hard life. He needs some time to rest." He felt a few tears begin to loosen from his eyes.

"Are you...," Sunny asked in disbelief. "Crying, Uncle Hal?"

"No." Otacon lied. "I'm not crying."

_A few days later..._

It was a few days after the graveyard meeting with Solid Snake, and his father, the man with the code known as Big Boss. The man that he and his now-dead twin brother, Liquid Snake, shared. Big Boss had officially announced the end of the Patriots, and the beginning of a New America, an America that was no longer a dictatorship cleverly disguised as a democracy. He had killed his partner in the founding of the Patriots, the man known only as Major Zero, and then himself, allowing himself to be exposed to Solid Snake's new FOXDIE virus strain. Snake knew that he would die, from his accelerated aging, and then, the FOXDIE strain would be gone, forever.

Snake got up out of his chair, needing to go outside to take a walk to help clear his head of the last few days. The Patriots were gone, and America was free again. He crossed to the front door, leaving something behind.

"Snake, wait up!" his best friend, Otacon, called, holding a pack of cigarettes. "You forgot these!"

"No thanks." Snake said, cutting his friend's sentence off. "I'm quitting."

"Snake?!" Otacon said in surprise.

"These things will kill ya." Snake said, a-matter-of-factly.

"Where will you go?" Otacon asked. "Our fight is finished. There's nothing left for us to do."

"No." Snake said in disagreement. "There's still one thing I still have to do. I have to see this age off. See what the future brings."

"Sounds good to me." Otacon said happily. "I'll go with you."

"Otacon, I'm going to be dead soon." Snake said. "You don't have to come."

"You said it yourself, Snake." Otacon protested. "There's nothing inside you can pass on to the next generation. No genes, no memes. You're man-made. You're a beast."

"I know." Snake said. "A blue rose. There won't be any happy _Beauty and the Beast_ ending for me. What little time I have left will be spent living. As a beast. A shadow of the inside. Of old age."

"Exactly." Otacon countered. "That's why you need me. As a witness."

"A witness?" Snake asked.

"Yeah." Otacon replied. "Someone on the outside to bear witness to your final days. Someone to pass on your story, not that I'm the only witness. But I'll remember everything you were, and stick with you to the end."

"Otacon..." Snake said, speechless.

"Besides, you wouldn't let me suffer Sunny's eggs alone, would you?" Otacon joked.

Snake and Otacon laughed, one of the last laughs they would ever share together. Within that year, Solid Snake had succumbed to his disease and died. A small funeral was held, attended by the newly-wedded Meryl and Johnny, Otacon, Sunny, Jack, aka Raiden, his wife Rose, along with their son, Jack Jr., and Colonel Roy Campbell, Snake's former commanding officer. Mei-Ling and Nastasha Romanenko also attended, despite not knowing Snake as well as the others did. Even Drebin and Meryl's former Rat Patrol 01 US Army unit was there. While tears were shed and eulogies were said, Otacon and the rest of Snake's former allies in life knew that because of everything Snake did, America was forever safe.

How wrong they would be in the coming years. As natural disaster and war ravaged the Earth, as well as the North American continent, the United States of America ceased to exist as a nation. Within that time, a new nation known as Panem had took its place. Campbell, and the rest of Snake's allies with the exception of Otacon, were lucky enough to pass away before Panem rose.

The old Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, was now bed-ridden and on his deathbed in his home in what was now known as District 12, formerly known as the US State of Virginia. He watched as for punishment of the first rebellion, a barbaric event known as The Hunger Games was established, an event where the Districts were required to offer up young tributes, kids between the ages of twelve to eighteen, and as required viewing, Otacon was now watching what they called the Reaping, the very first of its kind, for the first Annual Hunger Games.

"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" the announcer called out.

Otacon closed his eyes and sighed, disgusted with the way the world had turned out. They fought to defeat the Patriots, and now they may as well live in a world where the Patriots actually won. "If only Snake had been here. The first rebellion against this new Capitol would not have failed." he said to himself. He looked over at a photograph of him and Snake in their younger days, where he was smiling, but Snake was not. Just like him, the old bastard, rarely ever cracked a smile. Otacon smiled to himself sadly. "Snake, where are you when we need you?"

That night, the night of the first Reaping of the First Annual Hunger Games, Otacon had had enough with the way the world had become, and whether or not it was God who heard his disgust, allowed Otacon to pass on, pass on from a world where his children and his children's children would have to fare for themselves.

Exactly seventy-three years after the death of Otacon, the teenage girl known as Katniss Everdeen awoke to calm her younger sister Primrose Everdeen of the nightmare that caused her to awake with a scream in their home in District 12. The day of the Reaping for the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Little had Otacon, nor Katniss, would have known, that their seemingly unrelated adventures would soon come to meet.

Author's Note: First chapter, what do you guys think? I'll try to do more if this gets good feedback. Thanks! 


	2. Can You Shoot Me, Rookie?

Chapter 1: Can You Shoot Me, Rookie?

Alarms blared in the Capitol. President Snow had fallen ill. His heart was failing him. He needed an emergency transplant if he was expected to survive. But where would this transplant come from? All over the Capitol, people watched as their beloved President, beloved only to them, but despised by the Resistance, was dying.

An emergency surgery had been called. An exhumed cadaver that had been kept in a cryogenic chamber for God knows how long had been selected. A British man who had died a long time ago, a war veteran of some war that the previous country, America, and its allies had fought in, in the Middle East. Something about a dictator in a land known as Iraq. A former member of the British Army SAS. A man with long blond hair that reached to his shoulders. A man who's dead body was missing an arm. Not that it mattered anyway, Snow needed a new heart, not a new arm.

The people of the Capitol had waited with baited breath as they waited for news on Snow's condition, just like the Soviets waited for news about the condition of Joseph Stalin, or the North Koreans waiting for news on the condition of Kim Jong-Il. Unlike those two dictators from long ago, however, Snow survived, much to the jubilation and relief of the Capitol.

President Coriolanus Snow sat in his wheelchair, a few days after recovery, when he began to notice some changes in his body. The sores he had accumulated in his mouth from drinking that poison had healed. A feat that was once thought impossible, there must have been something about that heart he had gotten. Snow wheeled his chair over to his phone and dialed a few numbers.

"Yes, President Snow?" his top medical aide answered.

"I want to see the body that you got this heart that you gave me from." Snow ordered.

"Right away, Mr. President." his aide responded.

Snow was wheeled into a cryogenic chamber. Inside there were two cryogenic tubes, with the body of the British man on the table, cut open after removing the heart. The one next to the empty one that once contained the British man contained an American man with hair as white as Snow's. A man who was aged, and had what looked to be a nasty burn scar on his face.

"So, this is the body that you got the heart from?" Snow asked.

"Yes sir." the aide responded. "You do remember how the Capitol exhumed bodies of the former country America's soldiers? Well, they stopped when they found these two in cryogenic sleep. Studying the records of these two men, who were kept frozen for unknown reasons, possibly for genetic engineering, they decided that exhuming old soldiers was unnecessary, as they could just genetically engineer new Peacekeepers from these two. Or, at least, so we thought."

"Why didn't you?" Snow asked.

"Well, with all due respect, Mr. President, we never had the adequate funding to do such a thing since you kept spending obscene amounts of money to make The Hunger Games appealing to the audience. Especially the budget you did with the Quarter Quell, and..."

Snow cut him off. "Remember, I can have you executed for questioning my authority."

"Yes, Mr. President." the aide said. "Sorry, Mr. President. They're both genetic copies of each other, must have been from some experiment back in the American days. The one that we harvested the heart from was the one with the dominant genes, while the other has recessive genes. Their names are-"

"I don't care what their names are." President Snow snapped, cutting his aide off mid-sentence. "I just want to know if these bodies can still be of use to us."

"Well, Mr. President, there is this highly experimental procedure that we can use to bring the other one back to life. We can then use Tracker Jacker venom to brainwash him, just like we did with Mr. Mellark, and turn him into the Ultimate Peacekeeper. He may be the one with the recessive genes, but according to his service records that we have, he's still a damn good soldier." the aide explained.

Snow noticed that the man looked to be about as old as he was. "How will you do such a thing? He's too old to look threatening." he asked.

"Well, according to his file, he suffered from accelerated aging, but we can reverse that, make him look young and intimidating." the aide replied. "After using Tracker Jacker venom to brainwash him, we can use him as a leader to get our Peacekeepers into shape and, possibly even take some of his genes, implant them into our Peacekeepers, and have a whole army of Ultimate Peacekeepers. If we did that, Ms. Everdeen and the Resistance at District 13 will be quite powerless to stop us."

President Snow wheeled himself up to inspect the other man. Almost immediately, his new heart started to race, almost as if the heart were reacting to this man. He backed off immediately.

"Fine, do it." President Snow said. "Consider it an order. Just don't let him come near me."

"Why is that, sir?" the aide enquired.

"He deeply disturbs me, for some reason. That's why." Snow responded.

President Snow turned to leave, before his medical aide stopped him to ask him one last question.

"Forgive me for being so bold as to ask you, but why did you want to see the body we got the heart from?" the aide asked.

"Remember those sores in my mouth, I got from drinking that poison?" Snow asked his aide, who nodded in return. "I noticed that they healed. My mouth no longer smells of blood."

The aide smiled. "Nice to hear that, Mr. President. How do you feel, by the way?"

President Snow flashed a smile, a smile that was warming to the people of the Capitol, but sick and twisted to the other Districts. "As fresh as those white roses that I love so much."

_Three hours later..._

A flash. Memories. Almost like waking up from a long sleep. 1991. The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets. Western Iraq. Operation: Desert Storm. Sent in to scout for the American, British, and French invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. FOXHOUND. Roy Campbell.

1995. Galzburg, South Africa. Outer Heaven. Operation: Intrude N313. The people he killed there. Shotmaker, the former Soviet Russian Spetsnaz shotgun user. Machine Gun Kid, the former member of the British Army SAS who specialized in all forms of automatic weapons. Fire Trooper, the former German GSG-9 agent who was good with a flamethrower. Bloody Brad, the _Terminator_-inspired robotic man that could kill anything with one punch. Dirty Duck, the Australian terrorist and former member of the terrorist group known as Egg Plant. Metal Gear TX-55. His own father, Big Boss. Or so he thought.

Voices on the outside were discussing how to use this new discovery. "We're going to revive him and brainwash him with Tracker Jacker venom, just like we did with Peeta Mellark."

The voices seemed distant. More memories flooded. Christmas Eve, 1999. Central Asia. Zanzibar Land, a military junta that was trying to declare independence from the Russian Federation, Mongolia, and the People's Republic of China. Operation Intrude: F014. The people he killed there. Kyle Schneider, the former South African Resistance member against Outer Heaven, brainwashed to be an agent for Zanzibar Land, taking the name Black Ninja. Running Man, the former French terrorist who could run like the wind, who tried to kill him in a poison gas trap. Red Blaster, former Russian Spetsnaz who specialized in grenade use. The Four Horsemen, two former United States Navy Underwater Demolition Team members, one former British Army SAS, and one former German GSG-9 agent who all ambushed him in that elevator. Jungle Evil, a former South African Special Forces Brigade officer who specialized in camouflage and guerilla tactics. Night Fright, former North Vietnamese Army, known for training the Vietcong in guerilla warfare. Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, the former Russian engineer who built a lot of Metal Gear units. Or so he thought. Metal Gear D. Frank Jaeger, aka Gray Fox, the United States Army FOXHOUND member who had a German father and a Vietnamese mother. Or so he thought. His father, Big Boss, again. Or so he thought.

"All right, let's get him out of that chamber, then." another voice said. Buttons were pressed, and the cryogenic liquid began to drain out of the tube.

Memories. Late February 2005. Shadow Moses Island, Alaska, the United States of America. The Genome Army uprising. The people he killed there. Decoy Octopus, the FOXHOUND member who specialized in disguise and impersonation, via FOXDIE. ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker, accidentally of course, via FOXDIE. Psycho Mantis, the former Russian KGB agent who defected to the United States to work as a psychic and paranormal investigator for the FBI. Sniper Wolf, the Iraqi Kurdish former Gurkha sniper who served during the 1988 Al-Anfal Campaign during the Iran-Iraq War. Vulcan Raven, the Native American Alaskan Inuit shaman and medicine man who specialized in heavy weapons. Metal Gear REX. His twin brother, Liquid Snake, the former British Army SAS operative and veteran of Operation: Desert Storm, just like he was, via FOXDIE. Or so he thought. His best friend, Frank Jaeger, aka Gray Fox, sacrificing himself in order to save him from Metal Gear REX.

The body was pulled out of the cryogenic chamber and laid out on the table. A special injection was administered, causing the old face to almost, as if, by magic, lose its permanent burn scars and become younger. His hair reverted from white back to its natural brown. The accelerated aging was cured.

Memories. August 8th, 2007. The USS _Discovery_, traveling underneath the George Washington Bridge on the Hudson River, in New York City, New York, United States of America. Meeting Olga Gurlukovich. Engaging her in a firefight. Knocking her out with tranquilizer darts. Taking her USP pistol. Being photographed by that US Army Cipher-T. Fighting Sergei Gurlukovich's Russian forces. Photographing evidence of Metal Gear RAY. Revolver Ocelot, the Russian-American gunslinger, the only one he didn't kill on Shadow Moses, murdering both Sergei Gurlukovich and United States Marine Corps Commandant Scott Dolph. Ocelot being possessed by Snake's brother via his arm, which he had attached to him after losing an arm on Shadow Moses. Liquid/Ocelot hijacking RAY. Nearly drowning in the Hudson River, almost in the Atlantic Ocean. Faking his death in order to throw the government off his scent.

"Cut his hair and shave him." voices said. "We need the Ultimate Peacekeeper to look clean-cut and professional." The stylist teams, the same one that worked on Tributes for the Games, did so.

Memories. April 29th, 2009. The Big Shell Incident. Sneaking onto the Big Shell in New York Harbor. Impersonating a member of United States Navy SEAL Team 10. Taking the pseudonym of Lieutenant JG Iroquois J. Pliskin. Almost getting killed by Vamp, the Dead Cell Romanian vampire. Meeting Jack, aka Raiden. The death of Peter Stillman. The death of Emma Emmerich. Infiltrating Arsenal Gear. Teaming up with Raiden. Fighting and losing to Fortune, aka Helena Dolph Jackson, the daughter of Scott Dolph. Raiden taking on multiple RAY units. Ocelot murdering Fortune. Liquid possessing him again, planning on taking a fight against the Patriots. Raiden killing Solidus Snake, the leader of the Sons of Liberty on top of Federal Hall in New York City, on April 30th, 2009, the 220th Anniversary of George Washington's swearing in as the first President of the United States of America. Telling Raiden to find his own path, and forbidding him in joining the fight against the Patriots until he "figured some things out." Finding out that the Patriots were actually all dead, and had been for nearly one hundred years at that point in time.

"Doctor, what if the revival serum didn't work?" someone asked. "It better have." someone else said. "Otherwise, President Snow will execute me."

Memories. 2014. The Middle East. Fighting the Praying Mantis PMC. Meeting Drebin. Reuniting with Meryl. Fighting the FROGs. Seeing the members of the Beauty and the Beast Corps for the first time. Ocelot, now totally possessed by Liquid, activating Liquid's DNA in order to cause the PMCs and Meryl's team to go into a fit of incapacitating illness. Meeting Naomi Hunter after years of not seeing her.

2014. Peru. Seeing Laughing Octopus and Vamp. Infiltrating Vista Mansion. Learning more of his condition via Naomi. Killing Laughing Octopus. Escaping from Vista Mansion with Naomi, Vamp in pursuit. Raiden fighting Vamp. Raiden telling him to go meet Big Mama.

2014. The Czech Republic. Stalking a member of the Czech Resistance. Going inside that church. Meeting Big Mama and the Paradise Lost Resistance Army. Finding out that Big Mama was Eva, his mother. The true identities of the original Patriots. Killing Raging Raven. Big Mama dying. The embarrassing defeat on the Volta River. Johnny Sasaki rescuing Meryl from drowning in the Volta River, and getting a passionate kiss in return.

2014. The return to Shadow Moses Island. Reliving old memories. Killing Crying Wolf. Using a nanomachine syringe to make Vamp "mortal." Holding off the Suicide Gekkos. Raiden finally killing Vamp. Naomi allowing her cancer to kill her, much to the protests of the love-stricken Otacon, whom she had had sex with. Piloting Metal Gear REX, battling Liquid Ocelot who was piloting Metal Gear RAY. Mei Ling, now a United States Navy Captain, opening fire on Outer Haven, Ocelot's battleship.

2014. The Bering Strait. Trailing Outer Haven, catapulting onto it. Killing Screaming Mantis. Struggling through the microwave room. Using FOXALIVE to defeat the Patriots. Fighting Liquid Ocelot. The old Revolver Ocelot resurfacing. Ocelot dying.

2014. Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, United States of America. Almost committing suicide in front of the grave of his father to wipe his genes and FOXDIE from the Earth. Failing. His father still alive. His father killing Major Zero. His father allowing FOXDIE to kill him. His father telling him to stop fighting and live his life to the fullest. Meeting Otacon again. Quitting smoking. Enjoying Sunny's eggs for the first time, after she learned how to cook them properly.

What the hell?

Focus. He was starting to come to. The voices were no longer so distant. They were much closer. Closer. Closer.

"Success!" the medical aide said. "He has finally come to!"

The man had no idea what was going on. However, he was coming to, he wasn't liking this new strange world he had woke up in, and was slowly getting pissed off due to the lack of legitimate answers.

"Excellent!" someone else said. "I shall fetch the Tracker Jacker venom!"

The man realized who he was. _"I am Solid Snake."_ he thought to himself. _"I have no idea where I am, or how I got here, but someone better start answering some questions!"_

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE!" Snake bellowed, causing some of the medical practitioners to jump in alarm.

The medical aide stepped toward Snake. "Shh." he shushed him, trying to calm him down. "I know that you have a lot of memories of the past, and I know that you are in a world that you don't know of, but all of that won't matter anymore soon." Holding up a syringe, he went to place it into Snake. "After administering this Tracker Jacker venom, your old memories will be erased, and you will fight for the Capitol and crush the Resistance, and restore peace to Panem."

Snake had enough. "STICK THAT SYRINGE IN ME, AND I'LL KILL YOU!" he yelled forcefully.

"Temper, temper." the medical aide said with a sigh. "You're not going anywhere, it's impossible to escape from the Capitol."

Snake smiled dangerously. "Then you won't mind if I try, do you?" He then shot out his foot and kicked the medical aide in the face, causing him to drop the syringe of Tracker Jacker venom. Jumping off the table like he had never gained a day in age, Snake quickly dispatched the medical team that had no combat experience, but not before they sounded the alarm to send Peacekeepers to their location.

Snake knew the sound of alarm. He had triggered a few on his sneaking missions. He quickly ran out of the medical room. He looked at himself. He had an identification number wrapped on a paper band around his wrist. Ducking into a nearby storage room to hide, he scanned his surroundings. He found a crate that had a number that matched his identification number. Piquing his curiosity, Snake opened it to find stuff that he had never expected to see again. His OctoCamo sneaking suit, a tranquilizer gun, an M9 pistol, a combat knife, and a pack of cigarettes. Snake quickly pocketed the items, and left the storage room, wondering how he got so lucky to find such useful things in a world that he didn't know anything about.

Things quickly turned south when he heard some guards yell "HALT, IN THE NAME OF THE CAPITOL!" Snake just scowled at them and took off down another hallway. Rounding a corner, he found something else that could be of use to him. A stack of empty cardboard boxes. There was no where that he could blend into with his OctoCamo, so it was this option, then. He picked up a box and put it over him, hiding underneath it.

"DAMN IT, WHERE'D HE GO!" the leader of the Peacekeeper squad cursed. "SEARCH THE OTHER AREAS, QUICKLY!"

_"Gets them every time_." Snake thought to himself in amusement. He threw off the cardboard box and spied a ventilation duct. Going through it, he found himself sliding down into a sewer system. It smelled awful, but it was better than being shot at.

Making his way through the sewer, he came upon another man in a white uniform, what Snake guessed was some sort of paramilitary police force. The man in question was talking on a radio, receiving orders to hunt down one who had escaped from the Medical Bay. Snake guessed that that someone was in fact, himself. He snuck up on and knocked out the man in the white uniform, dragged him into an adjacent alleyway, and stole his uniform, taking it as a disguise.

Making his way through the streets of the strange place, stolen uniform and equipment in tow, Snake knew he had to escape from this place called the Capitol. After exhausting every other option, he decided to stow away on a train that was carrying these people called Peacekeepers to some place called the "outskirts of District 13, to crush the Resistance."

_"Well, if there is a Resistance against these assholes, then this District 13 place can't be too bad, now can it?" _Snake thought to himself.

Taking a train ride for a couple of days, and noticing how sloppy the security was on the train, due to no one being forced to give some sort of identification, Snake found himself in a wooded area pretty quickly. Escaping from the "Peacekeepers" and slipping off into the woods, Snake walked in one direction for about an hour. He had the survival training to know where he was going. North. That's what he heard the other Peacekeepers saying, the Resistance was to the north.

Snake came across a small pond and decided it was time to stop and get some water. He hadn't had anything to drink for two days, and if he didn't eat soon, he was going to pass out from hunger. Looking into the water, he had to do a double take when he saw his reflection. He looked young again. His hair was its natural brown. His burn scar and wrinkles were gone. He was clean shaven. He didn't know what was going on.

(Author's Note: Basically, think of the way that Snake looked in _Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes._)

"What the hell?" Snake questioned out loud to himself. He knew he wanted to find this so-called Resistance, this mysterious place called "District 13", and get the answers he was sorely lacking. The last thing he remembered, he had fought to liberate the United States of America from control of the Patriots, and now he was in a land called, what was it? Panem? Last thing he remembered was being dead. In the meantime, he knew it was time to rest. He got his pack of cigarettes out, which luckily had a lighter, and pulled one out, knowing that he didn't care anymore about his commitment to quit however long ago it was. Taking a piece of black cloth from the undershirt of the Peacekeeper uniform, Snake tore it off, wrapped it around his head, and made a bandana out of it, just like he wore so many times in previous missions.

_In another area, not too far from where Snake is_...,

_"My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me. Peeta was taken prisoner. He is thought to be dead. Most likely he is dead. It is probably best if he is dead..."_

Young Katniss Everdeen was with her best friend from District 12, Gale Hawthorne. The Quarter Quell was over, she had survived. The Capitol had kidnapped Peeta, and had also firebombed District 12. Gale had used some foresight to escape with his family, and they were now taking refuge in District 13, a place that had long ago thought to had been decimated by the Capitol. They were out hunting, just like their agreement with President Coin had allowed them to, for an hour each day. They had spent most of the hunt searching for game, whilst discussing the near-death of President Snow earlier that day. Katniss had mixed feelings on the revelation, part of her was disappointed that Snow didn't die, but the other part of her was glad, seeing as she wanted to kill him herself. She had even made that one of her conditions that she gave to President Coin in return for agreeing to be the Mockingjay.

"Fifteen more minutes, Catnip." Gale said, adding the playful nickname he had given his friend all those years ago.

Katniss smiled, but it was a sad smile. Her home was gone, she was caught in a love triangle between Gale, her oldest friend in the world, and Peeta, the boy she had grown to have strong feelings for as well, said new love had been kidnapped by the people she despised, and to top it all off, Coin was expecting her to become the Mockingjay, and lead a Resistance against the Capitol. A little too much pressure to put on a seventeen-year-old girl. She was willing to do it, though, she had had enough of the Capitol.

Establishing the Games, putting her in twice in a row, firebombing District 12, her home, and forcing her friend Gale and everyone else who got out to become refugees. She said yes, for Gale, for Peeta, for Prim, for her mother, for her friend Madge, and for all those who died in District 12 when it was bombed.

She nodded, her long side-braid slinking up and down her back as she did so. "Okay, Gale." she said. "Let's split up. You go down that way and set some snares, maybe we'll get some rabbits or squirrels. I'm going to go up this way and see if I can't find a deer to bring back to the cooks."

Gale nodded, smiling, and went to do what Katniss had suggested. Katniss herself went up the path a little ways, to see if she could catch a deer going to drink at a nearby pond she knew of. When she got there, she saw something she couldn't bear to see.

She gasped. A Peacekeeper! But what was one doing out this far? And without a squadron? He didn't look like he was looking for anybody, he was just sitting there by the pond, smoking a cigarette. Katniss had never seen anyone in any of the Districts smoking, she had always assumed that that was something only the higher class in the Capitol did. Still, she knew she had to kill this Peacekeeper to not run the risk of having the Resistance's position given away.

Katniss reached down and grabbed a handful of dead leaves and crumpled them, letting them blow in the wind, trying to figure out the wind direction. When she saw the leaves blow toward the Peacekeeper in question, she knew she had a chance of killing him with an arrow. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver and knocked it in her bow_. "Quick clean silent kill." _she thought to herself._ "No need to alarm Gale about this."_

She held her breath and let go of the arrow, letting it fly. Unfortunately, her aim, which was usually perfect, was a little low this time, and only hit the ground a few feet next to the Peacekeeper. The Peacekeeper got up and reacted_. "Damn it, I missed!"_

Katniss knew that she would have to quickly get another arrow ready if she were to kill him before he either ran and reported their position, or worse, killed her and Gale. However, she wouldn't get that chance, as she saw the Peacekeeper take aim at her.

_At the pond_...,

"What the hell?" Snake cursed as he heard the arrow strike the ground next to him. He quickly scanned in the direction the arrow came from, and saw a young teenage girl, holding a bow, looking scared and trying her best to get another arrow ready.

_"So, she wants to try to kill me, huh_?" Snake thought to himself_. "All right, two can play this game_." He pulled out the assault rifle he had stolen from the Peacekeeper he had knocked out back in the Capitol, and took aim.

_At the treeline_...,

_"DAMN_!" Katniss thought as she dove from the treeline just in time for automatic gunfire to whizz over where her head just was a few seconds before. If there was gunfire, there was no way that Gale wasn't going to be alarmed now. So much for further hunting privileges.

Katniss turned around and ran in the direction she came from, trying to find Gale, get him and herself to safety. She found Gale a few yards away, and just as she expected, he had a panicked look on his face.

"KATNISS, WHAT HAPPENED?!" Gale yelled in panic.

"I TRIED TO KILL A PEACEKEEPER THAT MADE HIS WAY UP HERE, AND I MISSED!" Katniss yelled back in hysterics.

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER, I CAN HEAR FOOTSTEPS! HE'S CHASING YOU, KATNISS, WE HAVE TO GET BACK TO 13 BEFORE HE KILLS US!" Gale yelled back, trying to keep a cool head.

Too late. Rustling noises came from the trees as the Peacekeeper that Katniss had tried to kill came crashing after them. Gale tried to rush the Peacekeeper and tackle him to the ground, but his attempt was dodged and he received a punch to the gut as reward for his efforts. Gale doubled over, coughing, the wind knocked out of him.

Katniss drew her bow and fired, missing again. Just as she drew another arrow and knocked it, she saw the barrel of the Peacekeeper's pistol jammed in her face. She knew if she let the arrow fly, he would pull the trigger, and the both of them would die. She studied the Peacekeeper, who had no helmet on. He was a handsomely featured man, in her opinion, with short brown hair and for some odd reason, wearing a bandana. His eyes were icy cold blue, almost like a feral beast about to close in for the kill. She closed her eyes and waited for the end, thinking of everyone she was going to fail, District 13, the rest of Panem that wanted freedom, her little sister, Prim, Gale, her mother, and, worst of all, Peeta, stuck in the Capitol, having them do God-knows-what to him.

However, when she heard no gunshot, and felt no bullet coming to penetrate her face, to end it all, she cautiously opened her eyes, to see, to her surprise, the Peacekeeper smiling dangerously at her.

Katniss heard one question leave the Peacekeeper's lips. "Can you shoot me, rookie?" the "Peacekeeper" asked in a deep, gruff voice.

Author's Note: Cliffhanger. I'm known for these with my fics. I'm just that evil!

Now that I think about it, small change of subject, I find it kind of funny that Donald Sutherland plays President Snow in the movie adaptations of _The Hunger Games_, and that his son, Kiefer Sutherland, will be replacing David Hayter as the voice of Snake in the upcoming MGS title, _Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain._ Speaking of which, any of you _Hunger Games _fans who might also be _Metal Gear Solid _fans, I have not played _Rising _or _Phantom Pain _yet and I won't be able to for a while, so please, no spoilers in your reviews! That's all I ask. Read and review!


End file.
